1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the exemplary embodiments relate to a field emission display. More particularly, the exemplary embodiments relate to an automatic spacers mounting system capable of automatically mounting spacers on a panel of a field emission display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a field emission display (FED) has a top panel and a bottom panel that are spaced apart from each other and a space between the top and bottom panels is sealed in a vacuum. Therefore, a lot of spaces are used to uniformly maintain a gap between the top and bottom panels in a vacuum.
40-inch or larger field emission displays use more than 1000 pieces of spacers to realize a structural stability and product characteristics in a vacuum.
Methods of mounting spacers on the field emission display may include a method in which a worker mounts spacers on the field emission display by using tweezers. This method is tedious and has a low yield of the process.
Another method is used in which a plurality of spacers are picked and placed by a chuck. Generally, when L×M pieces of spacers are mounted on the panel of the field emission display, the method is configured so that L pieces of spacers are mounted on the panel in M times. For this, a plurality of spacers are set in a vertical position one by one using a bowl feeder and a linear feeder, and a gripper is used to pick and place some spacers to mount them on the panel of the field emission display. However, since the number of spacers that can be picked and placed by the gripper in the same time is small, this method takes a long time. Also, if the spacer has a high aspect ratio, it is difficult to perform a fast mounting of the spacers.